


The Princess Andromeda

by avid_author_activist



Series: The Fallen [1]
Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan
Genre: Angst, Gen, im so sorry, this idea just grabbed me and wouldn't let go
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-14
Updated: 2020-04-16
Packaged: 2021-03-02 04:54:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 6,238
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23649535
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/avid_author_activist/pseuds/avid_author_activist
Summary: The Princess Andromeda mission, told from Beckendorf's POV, from start to awful end.
Relationships: Charles Beckendorf & Percy Jackson, Silena Beauregard/Charles Beckendorf
Series: The Fallen [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1702606
Comments: 8
Kudos: 30





	1. I Crash A Date

Blackjack’s wings skimmed the waves below as we dipped towards the Atlantic. The salty sea spray filled the air, dissipating a little of the anxiety curdling in my stomach. I glanced at my pocket, where I kept a picture of my girlfriend, Silena. She’d seemed nervous before I’d left camp today, but these days, everyone was jumpy.

“You don’t have to do this, Charlie,” she’d told me. “Let someone else go instead of you.”

I pulled her in for a hug. “It’ll all be okay,” I reassured her. “It’s just another routine mission.”

“No… no, it won’t,” she sniffled against my chest. “I have a bad feeling about this, Charlie.”

“Hey, you’ll see. I’ll come back, just you wait,” I promised. “But I have to go now.”

As she pulled away, I saw a silver bracelet glinting on her wrist. There was only one charm on it, like a moon or something. I opened my mouth to ask her about it, but—“Stay safe,” Silena said, and I was alarmed to see tears shining in her eyes. “Goodbye, Charlie.”

I felt a lump in my throat. “Bye, Lena.” The words stuck in my mouth.

With an effort, I pulled myself back to the present. We were spiralling higher over the Atlantic, flying parallel to a couple seagulls. Some part of me wanted to put out my hand and touch one, but the glint in its eyes gave me pause. Blackjack shook his mane and flew higher, like he wanted to get away from the birds too. Man, even the horse knew seagulls were evil.

“There they are,” I said. As the mainland came into view, I could see a Prius parked right on the ridge above the ocean. If I squinted, I thought I could make out the outline of Percy in the driver’s seat. Blackjack tossed his head again, as if in acknowledgement. Not for the first time, I wondered if he was able to understand me.

“That’s ridiculous,” I said aloud.

The pegasus snorted.

As we got closer, I finally recognized the girl sitting in the passenger seat. Frizzy red hair pulled back into a ponytail, freckles, peeling sunburn. That could only be Rachel Dare, the girl Percy might or might not have a crush on. I said _might not_ because I’d seen the way he and Annabeth looked at each other. Silena gushed about those two all the time:

“ _When_ are they going to start dating? If Percy doesn’t ask her out soon, I think I’ll _die!_ ”

“Alright, Lena,” I always said. If it happened, it happened, and if it didn’t, it didn’t. That was my philosophy on couples. But Silena always listened to my rambles about armor and smelting, so I listened to her attempts at matchmaking.

I fought the urge to reach for the photo of her in the pocket of my shorts.

Then— _WUMP-WUMP-CRUNCH!_ Blackjack stomped across the hood of Percy’s car, leaving horse hoof indents in the metal and almost throwing me off in the process. Way to make an entrance.

“Blackjack!” I groaned. If a horse could shrug, Blackjack would have.

I sighed and put my head in my hands. Percy hadn’t turned sixteen yet, so that Prius had to belong to his parents. They were going to kill him… if he survived our mission. Maybe they’d be mad enough to dig him up and kill him again.

“Blackjack, what are you–” Percy looked up. His eyes met mine. _Act natural!_

“‘Sup, Percy.” I nodded and waved, trying not to look concerned about the fact that I was sitting on a pegasus that had just trampled the hood of his car. _Not that natural!_

“Time?” Percy asked, trying and failing to look upbeat. Rachel pursed her lips. I looked back and forth between the two of them. It looked like they had been on a date… had they been on a date? I took a mental note to tell Silena later.

Rachel looked up at me. “Hi.” Her startling green eyes reflected the sunlight. She wore a white blouse, bird-shaped earrings, and... mascara? According to Percy, Rachel never wore makeup.

Yep, I had definitely been that guy that interrupted your normal date by landing a pegasus on your car.

I waved, trying to ignore the heat rising in my face. “Oh, hey, I’m Beckendorf.” I almost expected her to snicker at my last name. A ton of people did, mostly the immature rich kids at my old middle school. “You must be Rachel. Percy’s told me… uh, I mean he mentioned you.”

“Really? Good,” Rachel said, quirking an eyebrow. The expression reminded me of Silena for the third time in probably five minutes. I tried to block her face out of my mind, just temporarily. If I lost focus like that on the cruise ship… well. That wouldn’t end happily for Percy, me, or Western civilization.

Blackjack pawed at the hood, which flattened alarmingly. Not for the first time, I wished he came with reins and a saddle. What was I supposed to do in this situation, talk to the horse? “Whoa,” I said under my breath. The pegasus ignored me and kept beating up the car.

“So I guess you guys have to go save the world now,” Rachel said, glancing at Blackjack. She seemed incredibly calm about the entire thing. I remembered Percy mentioning she could see through the Mist.

“Pretty much,” I said.

Percy looked at Rachel. “Would you tell my mom–”

“I’ll tell her. I’m sure she’s used to it. And I’ll explain to Paul about the hood.” I could see what Percy saw in Rachel now. She was mortal, yeah, but she also kept an incredibly cool head in weird mythological situations. And she was really pretty in her own way.

“Good luck.” Rachel leaned in and kissed Percy on the mouth. He turned brick red. I managed to turn my laugh into a cough as he glared at me. “Now, get going, half-blood. Go kill some monsters for me,” she said.

Percy clambered onto Blackjack’s back with a last wave to his date. The pegasus spread his wings and launched us into the sky. I swallowed, watching the ground recede beneath us, replaced by glittering blue waves. Pegasus takeoff always made me a little sick.

“So,” I joked, once my stomach had settled. “I guess you don’t want me to mention that little scene to Annabeth.”

Percy groaned. “Oh, gods. Don’t even think about it,” he said.

I grinned. “Just pulling your leg, Jackson—wouldn’t dream of it.”

To pass the time, I studied Blackjack’s wings as we soared in circles over the ocean. They seemed way too brittle to get a horse and two armored demigods into the air, but somehow they did. If I could copy and modify the design, I could build a _sweet_ war chariot. Sure, the chariot would have wings, but that just added to the cool factor.

The sun sank slowly over the horizon, turning the sky and sea to gold. The only sounds now were those of the ocean waves below us and Blackjack’s steady wingbeats. I breathed in the salty air, grounding myself in the moment. Part of me couldn’t help but wonder if it was the last sunset I would ever see.

As the sky purpled into twilight and the first stars came out, the _Princess Andromeda_ appeared over the horizon. The ship gleamed gold and silver in the night, bobbing gently in the waves. Suddenly, it seemed like a large and flashy piece of bait, waiting to trap unsuspecting demigods—us—with the larger and scarier monsters aboard. It was so bright that whenever I glanced away from it, spots appeared in my vision. Even so, I noted that the craftsmanship was perfect, and I felt a twinge of regret that we had to destroy such a beautiful work of art.

In my head, I ran through the countless dry runs we’d done over the last few weeks. Get in, plant the explosives, get out as soon as possible. It was a simple plan, but it had every chance of going wrong.

Blackjack dove parallel to the ship, and I thanked the gods that he wasn’t a white pegasus, or we would’ve been spotted for sure. As we sped pasrt, I glimpsed decks stuffed with countless monsters—telekhines and _dracaenae_ , for the most part. If Kronos had his way, they would all be in New York by tomorrow. My blood ran cold at the thought. _We have to stop them_.

The lowest stern deck was deserted. Blackjack spread his wings and landed gently. I slid off his back, a hand on the hilt of my sword. Part of me tensed, expecting the alarm to be raised any time now, but everything was silent.

"I think we're clear," Percy whispered. I nodded in agreement, checking to make sure the explosives were secure in my bag. 

Blackjack took off into the night, leaving us alone in enemy territory. I watched him disappear on the horizon, praying that we would both live to see him again.

I told myself to stop being morbid. Percy and I would both be fine. No one knew we were here.

But what if they did? What if they were expecting us, and this was all just one big trap?

 _Stop thinking about the what-ifs_ , I scolded myself. What was it that the Athena campers always said? _Anything can and will happen. Worrying about it won’t change the outcome_.

I took the picture of Silena from my pocket. She seemed more beautiful than ever, even by the dim light of Percy’s sword. I decided to ignore my earlier resolution to keep her from my mind. If anything were to happen, I wanted to have her in my thoughts.

“We’ll get back to camp,” Percy said, coming up behind me. I almost jumped a foot into the air. I tucked away the picture, part of me embarrassed that he had seen.

“You bet.” I tried to bury my fears. I couldn't let them mess with my head on this mission. “Let’s go blow Kronos back into a million pieces.”


	2. What Could Go Wrong? Everything, Apparently

I set off at a brisk pace, holding the layout of the ship in my head as we went. We followed a narrow corridor down to the service stairwell. A sixth sense stopped me in my tracks, and I threw an arm across Percy’s chest.

The snarls of a telekhine drifted down the stairwell. “I don’t care what your nose says! The last time you smelled half-blood, it turned out to be a meatloaf sandwich!”

I tried to pinpoint the monster’s voice: maybe the landing above us? In any case, the engine room was floors below. I gestured to the stairs, and we descended as quietly as possible.

My heart was pounding so hard in my chest that I was sure every monster on the ship could hear it.

Next to me, Percy seemed calm, unruffled. _He_ was probably going to come out of this alive. He was practically guranteed to survive until sixteen, when the fate of Olympus would be decided or something. He’d taken on Titans, gods, and basically every monster mythology had to offer. Exploding a cruise ship was just another day on the job for him. Me, on the other hand…

My camp necklace had five beads for five completed summers, from eighth grade through senior year. I had been on exactly zero quests, not counting the missions earlier this summer.

I was enrolled at NYU for the fall semester. My life was about as normal as a demigod’s could get: I had a girlfriend, a little brother, parents. They were strapped for cash, relying on money I made doing repairs when I was home. I tried not to think about how they would feel if I didn’t make it back.

We arrived at the engine room. The doors were bolted shut. I rummaged through my bag for a pair of chain cutters, careful not to jostle the jars of Greek fire. I didn’t want to think about what would happen if one of the jars broke. It probably did not involve getting off this ship alive and preventing the end of Western civilization.

With a sigh of relief, I closed my hand around the handle of the tool. I carefully severed the chains one by one, easing the door open. There was a second where we both held our breath. If an alarm was going to go off, it would be now. Nothing happened.

I grinned and strolled into the heart of the cruise ship.

 _Wow_. I couldn’t help but be impressed. Big yellow turbines the size of grain silos lined one wall. I could only imagine the amount of horsepower it took to keep a cruise ship of this size going. I’d always wanted to build a boat when I was younger, like maybe a flying warship or Greek trireme…

There would be time for that when we survived this war.

The other wall was lined with computer terminals and pressure gauges, manned by a single telekhine. Percy sliced him from shoulder to hip, and he exploded into yellow powder.

“One down,” I said, wiping the monster dust from my forehead. It was caked with my own sweat, forming a thick yellow goo. _Gross_. “About five thousand to go.”

I surreptitiously wiped my hand on my cargo shorts and handed Percy a jar of Greek fire and a roll of duct tape. “Slap those on the console. I’ll get the turbines.”

It was humid and hot in the control room. It wasn’t as bad as the forges at camp, but it was warm enough that both of us were drenched in sweat in no time. My fingers were slipping as I taped the jars to the turbines. More than once, I fumbled the jars, which would’ve been very bad for us if I hadn’t caught them before they hit the floor.

There were two turbines left when I heard the pounding of feet on the stairs outside, getting louder by the second. I blanched, thinking about the number of monsters that could be headed this way right now. There was no way we could hold them all off. Percy met my eyes, wiping the sweat from his face. “How much longer?” he asked.

I shook my head. “Too long,” I said around the roll of duct tape, fixing the second-to-last jar of fire in place. “I still have to wire the receiver and prime the charges. Ten more minutes at least.”

Percy seemed to come to a decision. “I’ll distract them. Meet you at the rendezvous point.”

I straightened, looking him in the face. Percy Jackson was maybe the best fighter I’d ever met, but even he couldn’t take on a shipful of five thousand monsters at once. “Percy–”

“Wish me luck.” He uncapped Riptide and unlatched the door.

“Good luck,” I sighed, and he disappeared outside. I heard telekhine yelps and snarls, then the _swish_ of Percy’s blade as he cut them apart.

Part of me—the part that wondered if this was the last time I’d see him alive—wanted to dart outside and help him. Then I took a deep breath. Percy was doing this for me so that I could finish the job. I couldn’t let him down.

I attached the last jar of Greek fire to the last turbine. I pulled the receiver out of my bag and began wiring the circuit. My mind focused until there was nothing but the job in front of me. There was a cruise ship that needed blowing up. I was the one that was going to blow it up. That was all.

My hands flew, priming the explosives and setting the timer. Then I paused. The original plan had been to set it for five minutes so we could escape before the boat exploded.  
I looked at my watch; the LED face read 10:29 PM. How long had it been since Percy had left? Five minutes? Seven? If he had been captured, neither of us would be getting off this ship alive.

I took a deep breath and set the timer to zero. When Kronos discovered the explosives, it would be far too late. I could detonate them at any time. Besides, if we were captured and the ship exploded, it wouldn’t matter to us.

Either way, we would be dead.

I finished wiring the receiver and packed everything up in my bag, minus the Greek fire. I took a deep breath and unlatched the door. All I had to do was make it to the rendezvous point—the helipad on the bow of the _Princess Andromeda_. What could go wrong?

Footsteps—many, many footsteps—echoed from the corridor to the right. I was faced with a split-second decision: engage them in front of the engine room, or take my chances with the hallway to the left, which was the way we had come. _Think! I have to think_.

This was the _second_ large wave of monsters that had come this way within fifteen minutes. That couldn’t possibly be a coincidence.

Somehow, Kronos knew we were here.

Either Percy had been captured and let something slip… or someone had told them that we would be here. _A spy. A spy at camp_.

Our entire mission had been compromised, and I had to find Percy and get out of here as soon as possible, hopefully detonating the explosives along the way.

I desperately wracked my brains for a way out of the situation. If the monsters checked the engine room, they would disable the explosives, and our mission would fail. New York would fall, and Olympus would follow. I couldn’t let that happen.

So.... if I wanted them to _avoid_ the engine room, I had to create a diversion. Then I had to convince them the explosives _hadn’t_ been set yet, so they wouldn’t come to check. A plan began to take shape in my mind—a stupid, crazy idea, but it was the only one I had.

 _First_. Kill any monsters that were coming to check the engine room _right now_. I unhooked a Greek fire grenade from my utility belt. Yanked out the pin. Took a second to think about how stupid I was being: _if the corridor caves in, I’m doomed_.

Before I could do any more second-guessing, I chucked the grenade into the horde of monsters rounding the corner, shut my eyes, and clapped my hands over my ears.

The resulting blast shook the floor, but the walls seemed to contain the shock wave well enough. I cautiously opened my eyes, ready to finish off the survivors. There were none. The walls weren’t even scorched, and any leftover monster dust had been totally incinerated.

I blew out a breath, trying to calm my racing heart. _Next step_ , I told myself. _What’s the next step?_

 _Second_. Convince Kronos’s minions I was heading _towards_ the engine room and hadn’t set the explosives yet. _Backtrack. Find fake explosives_.

I turned and ran down the left-hand corridor, retracing my steps back up the dingy stairwell where we had first heard the telekhines. I heard noise from the flight above me, and I instantly spun around and pretended to be heading downstairs.

Two _dracaenae_ snake women slithered around the corner and spotted me. “What issss thissss?” one hissed. Her forked tongue flickered. “An enemy demigod?”

“Yup, that’s me,” I said automatically, my brain running on autopilot. _Stupid_.

They made their way down the stairs, every step making an audible _thud_ and causing their armor to clank. It would’ve been funny if I wasn’t stuck on a cruise ship with five thousand monsters and only one demigod for backup.

“For Kronossss,” one hissed, jabbing at me with a spear. I sidestepped and lunged, slicing it to dust with my sword. Then I turned and sprinted down the stairwell, leaving the other one to raise the alarm.

 _Next step_. Fake explosives. Where was I supposed going to find fake explosives on a golden cruise ship?

 _Glass jars. The kitchens_. I swore, trying to remember where the kitchens were as I ran. My armor and bag clanked loud enough to raise Hades. With my luck, I’d attract another horde of monsters by stumbling around like a bull in a china shop.

I skidded around a corner and almost ran straight into a Cyclopes. It froze when it saw me, a hotdog halfway to its mouth. Before it could react, I stabbed it through the eye and sent it back to Tartarus.

I darted into the kitchen, sword at the ready. There was no one else in there, possibly because it was nearly eleven o’clock. Or maybe most of the monsters on this ship ate something else—like demigod.

I rummaged through the kitchen pantry, past packages of Froot Loops and Double Stuf Oreos. _Please_ , I prayed. _Please let there be something useful_.

Finally, in the very back, I unearthed a dozen jars of peach preserves, in pristine condition, as if they’d been waiting for this very moment. Was it divine intervention, or was it the fact that Greek monsters liked preservatives instead of preserved fruit? I sent a quick prayer of thanks to my father anyway.

Right outside the kitchen, the hallway forked again. I knew the left corridor would lead to the engine room—where a _third_ horde of monsters was probably heading—and almost certain capture and death. If I went back there, I wouldn't be able to make it off the ship before detonation. I would go down with the _Princess Andromeda._

The other corridor… if I took it, maybe I would be able to escape detection. I could make it to the rendezvous point with Percy, and we coud get away and detonate the charges from a distance.

 _A choice. I have a choice_.

No, I didn’t. Not really. If I ran, Kronos would find and dismantle the charges. Our only hope for success lay in me getting down to the engine room before the third wave of minions came to investigate.

Deep down, I knew I would never be able to chicken out. I had committed to this mission. It was my responsibility to see it through to the end.

I took a second to catch my breath, making sure my watch was set to the detonator. I fastened it more securely around my wrist—it would be just my luck to have it slip off in the next fifteen minutes. I glanced at the image of Silena in my pocket one last time. If everything went to plan… I would never see her smile again. _I’m sorry, Lena_.

An ice-cold clarity settled over my mind. For the ruse to work, the enemy had to see me creeping towards the engine room. I would be captured, and after that, there would be no way off this ship. I would detonate the charges, and then… I would die.

Don’t get me wrong. A part of me was freaking out. I was, not to be cliché, too young to die. I wanted to go to college, drive my brother to football practice every day, and major in political science. Maybe start my own crafting business on the side.

If I hit the big red button on my watch, all of those dreams would go up in a giant plume of Greek fire. There wouldn’t even be a body for my parents to bury.

I blinked away sudden tears.

But if I _didn’t_ do this, I would still die. If this ship made it to New York, it wouldn’t matter if I survived tonight. The Titans would take Olympus. All of Western Civilization would crumble within a week.

I had to do this.


	3. I Sign My Own Death Warrant

I plunged down the left hallway towards the engine room, putting on a big show of being furtive in case there were security cameras watching me or something. Everything seemed brighter and more vivid in the face of my approaching death. The tang of smoke in the air from my first grenade (gods, I hoped no one would notice that), my boots thudding against the ground as I ran, my heart pounding in my chest. I subconsciously counted every beat, knowing that they were numbered. The rest of my life would be measured in minutes, not years. 

The corridors were strangely empty, and I made my way back to the galley unimpeded. If no one saw or captured me, I would have to turn back around and pretend to sneak in all over again. 

Then I turned the last corner and came face to face with a tall demigod wearing an eyepatch. Ethan Nakamura, the Titan lord’s lieutenant. My hand fell to my weapon as I stepped back, pretending to be surprised. Two giants lumbered down the hallway to stand behind the enemy demigod, helping him to his feet. 

“Ambush,” I gasped, drawing my sword. I considered surrendering, to save myself from a pitched fight, but Ethan might find that suspicious. 

Nakamura smiled, but it didn’t reach his eyes. “Yes, we’ve known for a long time that you’d be coming.” Even though I had smelled a traitor earlier, his words still cut me deep. _Which camper would do this?_ I had known all of them for years, and the thought of any turning traitor made me ache inside. 

“Seize him,” Ethan ordered, drawing his own sword as the giants surged forward, crowding me back. I dodged their fists and desperately parried two of Ethan’s attacks, but I was totally outmatched. Even in a fair fight, swordplay had never been my strong suite. 

Ethan lazily disarmed me with a flick of his wrist. I ducked between the giants and lunged for him, but he knocked me away with the pommel of his sword. I stumbled, the harsh fluorescent lights of the galley blurring in my vision. In a blur of movement, Ethan drew his dagger, holding it to my throat. Even though I had planned for this, a sudden frisson of fear ran down my spine. 

“Let’s not do this the hard way,” he said softly. “Come quietly, and maybe I won’t kill you. You are a son of Hephaestus, yes? My lord Kronos could certainly use you.” 

I drove my fist forward and punched him in the jaw, sending him reeling back before he could react. The hit bruised my knuckles in a satisfying way, but his face had it worse. Before I had a chance to flee, one of his giants was instantly on me, pinning my arms to my sides. 

I seized the oppurtunity to make my lie more convincing. “Watch it,” I said, hardening my tone. “This bag is full of jars of Greek fire. They happen to be _very_ breakable. If you crush one, we’ll all die here.” The giant hesitated. 

Ethan spat blood from his mouth. “He does not lie. The explosives were _meant_ for the engine room, but now,” he leered, “they’ll never be set.” 

I breathed an internal sigh of relief _._ He bought the lie hook, line, and sinker _._

Nakamura climbed to his feet, stepping closer until his face was inches from mine. “By the way,” he said conversationally, “this ship is loaded with the best mortal mercenaries. Thousands of monsters. If you try to escape, you’ll die before you’re five steps away.” I saw his hand coming and tried to dodge, but I was completely immobilized, pinned between the two giants. The blow stung the left side of my face, making my eyes water with pain and humiliation. 

Ethan smiled again, baring teeth still stained with his own blood. “Now, let’s get going. I’m sure Lord Kronos will want to see you.” 

The giants stripped me of my armor and utility belt. I winced—part of me had hoped they would forget. The armor was a present my brother Jake had forged for me last summer, and the utility belt was packed with handy tools like the grenades. Ethan slid my sword into an extra scabbard on his belt and shouldered my bag himself. I noted with satisfaction that he handled it carefully, flinching when the jars of peaches inside clinked together. The ruse was working out, so far. 

They hadn’t taken my watch yet, but I couldn’t detonate the charges. The two giants flanked me, each holding one of my arms in a crushing grip. They would leave spectacular bruises later, if I survived that long. _Which_ , I remembered with a pang, _I won’t_. 

Besides, I couldn’t set off the explosives without warning Percy first, wherever he was. There was no way I could save myself, but he still had a chance.

The route we were taking looked vaguely familiar. I frowned, wondering why we were heading for the helipad. Then, it hit me. Whoever the spy was, they must have revealed the location of our emergency rendezvous point. 

Kronos wasn’t an idiot. He must have stationed his forces there, planning to ambush us. And if Percy had gone straight there like we had planned, he had almost certainly been captured like me. 

A crowd of monsters had gathered by the time we emerged on deck. They hissed and jeered at me as we passed through, but their main attention seemed to be focused on something else. I followed their gaze, and my mouth went dry. 

Percy Jackson was engaging the Titan lord Kronos in personal combat, like a total idiot. I wished I could live long enough to tell Annabeth and see her outraged expression. 

“A poor performance, Percy Jackson. Luke tells me you were never his match at swordplay,” Kronos was saying. Had Percy been wounded? It sounded like Kronos was toying with him. My hands tightened at my sides. The giants gripped me harder, rendering me totally helpless. I hated the feeling. 

“Luke had a big head,” Percy said. His voice was tight with pain. “But at least it was _his_ head.” 

I sighed before I could stop myself, torn between groaning and cheering at the same time. What did Annabeth see in this guy? What sort of idiot purposefully goaded the Lord of Time himself? 

“You’ll never get this boat to Manhattan,” Percy spat. _No, he won’t,_ I silently agreed. 

“And why would that be?” Kronos’s voice turned silky and sinister. “Perhaps you are counting on your friend with the explosives?” 

The anguish on Percy’s face was obvious even from below. I wished I could spare him the pain of the situation, but at least now I had a chance to warn him. 

Kronos looked down at the pool. His eyes blazed gold in Luke’s face—Luke, who’d greeted me like a friend when I arrived at camp five years ago—and I suppressed a shudder. “Nakamura!” he called. 

“Success, my lord,” Ethan responded. “We found him just as we were told.” He clapped his hands, and the giants pushed me forward. I tried not to trip over my own feet, clinging to the shreds of my dignity. My heart was pounding so hard in my chest, I was surprised I wasn’t dead of cardiac arrest. 

Distantly, though, a part of me wondered if they’d rehearsed this entire tableau. _No, no, no, Nakamura,_ I pictured Kronos saying. _I will call to you after I defeat Percy Jackson. You will come forward and clap your hands_ after _you announce your success, not_ before _. Otherwise, the reveal happens too soon. Where is the drama in that?_ Despite the circumstances, I had to fight back a smile. 

“NO!” Percy yelled, and the sound jerked me back to the present, which was sadly much less amusing. 

I met his gaze, knowing almost for certain that he would be the last friendly demigod to see me alive. I glanced down at my right wrist, where my watch was, hoping desperately that he would understand. He just stared at me blankly, his face bloody from a dozen scratches. _Oh, Zeus._

“Can we eat him now?” one of the giants was saying. I raised my eyebrows—I hadn’t known that giants could talk. Or that they were cannibals. Were humans and giants the same species?

“Soon,” Kronos told him. “Are you sure he didn’t set the explosives?” 

I fought to keep my expression neutral, willing Percy to do the same. One guilty look, and the game was up. 

“He was going _toward_ the engine room, my lord,” said Ethan. _Thank Hephaestus for gullible evil subordinates_. “And he told us. His bag is still full of explosives.” 

Kronos hesitated. _Buy the story,_ I prayed. 

“Open his bag,” Kronos ordered. One of the giants released his hold on me, causing the other to shift his grip, holding me by the neck instead of the arm. The giant peered into the bag, grunted, and upended it. The monsters surged backwards as one, thinking that they were about to be blown into a million pieces. 

A peach jar shattered when it hit the ground, spraying glass shards everywhere and splattering preserves on the deck. The other eleven rolled in all directions, clinking harmlessly against each other. 

It would have been funny if I wasn’t facing imminent death. 

“Did you, perhaps, send someone to ACTUALLY CHECK THE ENGINE ROOM?” Kronos roared, and Ethan staggered back and ran. I had maybe five minutes in which to detonate before he dismantled my system. 

But it didn’t matter if the ruse was discovered now. It was too late for Kronos and his cruise ship. All I had to do was hit the detonator button, and everything would go _KA-BOOM._

And my left hand was free, since the second giant was still going through my bag. I could detonate at any time, as long as Percy got the message. I blinked the number _zero_ at him: _dash, dash, dash, dash, dash._

He frowned, a silent question in his eyes. I sighed and cupped my fingers and thumb together, making a zero. Zero as in _if I press this button, you have exactly zero seconds to live and you should immediately jump off the cruise ship_. Hopefully he would understand what I meant. 

“We’ve known you were coming for weeks,” Kronos was saying, and he dangled something in the air in front of Percy. Something that glinted silver in the moonlight.

Almost magnetically, my eyes were drawn to it. I froze in place. My knees turned to jelly. If the giant hadn’t been holding me by the neck, I would have staggered. 

In Kronos’s hand was a silver charm bracelet. A silver charm bracelet with exactly one charm—a little moon. Exactly like the one Lena had been wearing today. Except it wasn’t a moon, I realized. It was a scythe—Kronos’s symbol. 

The world collapsed around me, my vision tunneling until all I could see was the little bracelet glinting in Kronos’s grasp. How long had Lena had that bracelet? How long had I been blind, telling her about my upcoming missions like an idiot?

Percy had to know. 

There was no time and no way to let him know.

If I mouthed _Silena_ at him, he might not even believe me. Kronos would see, and Lena could be in danger. I realized that, even now, I couldn’t do that to her. I had to hear the entire story, from her lips. She deserved that much.

The best I could do was to wait for her in Elysium. Wait for her to join me there. Silena would die a hero—I simply _had_ to trust in that.

Slowly, I worked up the courage to hit the button. It was harder than I thought would be, to sign my own death warrant when I very much wanted to live. But I had chosen my path, and there was no turning back now. 

I met Percy’s gaze for the last time. I mouthed one word: _Go._ He shook his head. Loyal to the last, I thought fondly. 

My left hand moved towards my right wrist, and I swallowed, hard. Hitting the button would be the last thing I ever did. 

“What issss he doing? What issss that on his wrissst?” one of the _dracaenae_ hissed suddenly. 

I shut my eyes. My breath was coming in shallow gasps. How long would I have left to live after the detonation? Thirty heartbeats? Twenty?

In one violent movement, I brought my hand the rest of the way and hit the button. The watch made a pleasant _beep_ and flashed the word DETONATING at me. 

There was a rumbling noise from deep within the ship, the floor vibrating slightly. Percy threw his sword at Kronos’s chest and shoved his way to the railing. “Goodbye and good luck,” I whispered to his back. Percy jumped, plummeting like a stone towards the sea. Hopefully the currents would take him far, far away.

The floor began to shake. Monsters were shouting, enemy demigods were screaming. They stampeded the decks, trying to get off the doomed cruise ship. It wouldn’t matter. Nothing in the blast zone, on or off the boat, would survive. How many heartbeats did I have now? Ten?

I raised my eyes to the heavens, to the bright stars twinkling overhead, my lips forming a rapid prayer to my father. Two beats left, now? 

One?

The world went up in a starburst of green fire. 


End file.
